High Time to Ease Patents for Covid Vaccines: Daily Brief
EU under pressure from pharma lobbyists to oppose patent waiver for Covid-19 vaccines; pandemic denial in Yemen puts people at risk; US Deputy Secretary of State arrives in Cambodia amid crackdown on critics; communities taking up arms in Myanmar; deadly police raid in Brazil needs investigating; ICC asks Sudan to hand over war-crime suspects; rights groups urge Egyptian authorities to end crackdown on peaceful dissent; and new EU body starts investigating financial fraud.
Decision-makers in the European Union will in the coming weeks face massive lobbying pressure from pharmaceutical corporations to continue to oppose any easing of patent rules for COVID-19 vaccines and treatment. The so-called TRIPS waiver could open the way to new vaccine production capacity, boosting supply, increasing global access and saving lives.
The deliberate decision of Houthi authorities in Yemen to keep the real number of Covid-19 cases under wraps and to pretend the pandemic doesn’t exist is putting Yemeni lives at risk.
US Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman arrived in Cambodia today, making her the most senior US official to visit the Southeast Asian country in almost a decade. The trip comes amid an ongoing crackdown on opposition figures and rights activists.
Communities in Myanmar are increasingly taking up arms to take on the military, which seized power in February. More than 800 pro-democracy protesters have been killed since then; thousands have been detained.
A thorough investigation is needed of police officers and commanders responsible for a raid that left 28 people dead in the Brazilian state of Rio de Janeiro.
63 organizations have called on Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi and Egyptian authorities to end the crackdown on independent organizations and peaceful dissent.
And lastly: A newly launched, super-national European Public Prosecutor’s Office (EPPO) will start today to investigate and prosecute crimes such as fraud, corruption and money laundering which affect the EU’s budget and public funds.